Johnny Hoogerland not to race until he fully recovers – Cycling News
Dutch cyclist Johnny Hoogerland has decided to stop racing for the rest of the season and take some rest till he is completely fit. He crashed during the Tour de France 2011 and believes that he is not 100 percent fit to race. Hoogerland was racing at the
Elite Men’s road race in Copenhagen and he was cruising his way to the finish line before the strong British team slowed him down.
The top Netherlands cyclist was Pim Lightart at 21st position with Lars Boom at 29th and Hoogerland at 35th position. Strong British team helped Mark Cavendish win the gold medal for Great Britain at the Elite Men’s road
race. Hoogerland is looking forward to the next World Championships as the event is scheduled in his homeland, Holland. He said, "It was great to have a go, but I’ll try again next year, when the championships return to Holland."
The 28-year-old was unlucky as the ‘Euro Media’ car hit him and he fell over the fence during stage 9 of Tour de France 2011. He has still not fully recovered from the crash as he told De Telegraaf, "I never had time to properly recover and regenerate since
the end of the Tour." He further added that, "My body is just ‘done’. I’ve done two Grand Tours and rode 15 of the post-Tour criteriums."
Despite the crash, Johnny managed to finish the race as he won the polka dot jersey for the brilliant performance at the mountains and also won the most Combative Rider’s Award. He held on to the polka dot jersey for stage 6, 7, 9 and stage 11 at the Tour
de France 2011.
The Dutch cyclist currently rides for the professional team Vacansoleil that he joined in 2009. He believes that the crash at the Tour had changed the whole season for him.
The rider has now decided to withdraw from cycling till he fully recovers as he will not race in the current season. It will be interesting to see how long it will take for Hoogerland to fully recover and get back to racing again.
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